Unbelievable!

Published: August 30, 2008 11:03AM

So after hearing for weeks from the McCain campaign how unqualified to be president Sen. Obama is, Senator McCain presented us with his idea of "qualified," by choosing as his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

Think a about it for just a minute: the 72 year old McCain thinks that it's fine to have "a heartbeat from the presidency" an individual who has served barely a year and a half as governor, and whose previous job experience includes sports reporting (her college degree was in journalism) and serving two term as as mayor of a town half the size of Cambridge. Asked a while back for her opinion on the Bush administration "surge" strategy in Iraq, she replied "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq." When you look at the many well qualified Republicans McCain could have selected, you have to wonder what the heck someone who claims he "puts America first" could have been thinking.

Here's what Ronald Reagan said in his memoirs concerning the last time a woman was nominated for VP: "I believe that someday we are going to have a woman president, possibly during my life, and I've often thought the best way to pave the way for this was to first nominate and elect a woman as vice-president. But I think Mondale made a serious mistake when he picked Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. In my view, he guessed wrong in deciding to take a congresswoman that almost nobody had ever heard of and try to put her in line for the presidency ... I don't know who among the Democrats might have been a better choice, but it was obvious Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro simply because he believed there was a 'gender gap' where I was concerned and she was a woman."

Makes you wonder - was McCain truly looking for the best qualified candidate, or was he simply trying to capture the votes of women still upset over Obama's not selecting Hillary Clinton as his running mate and of the right wing voters who applaud her views on abortion, gun control and creationism?